Food for Thought: You can’t beat beets

Weekly food rail, with standing items (Healthy Consumer, Easy Recipe, etc.) and a news bit on thieves who found a new use for ketchup.

Healthy Consumer

Want to add healthy fare to your diet? Try beets. Some information on the grungy-looking roots from WebMD:

Why they're healthy: Think of beets as red spinach. Just like Popeye's powerfood, this crimson vegetable is one of the best sources of both folate and betaine. These two nutrients work together to lower your blood levels of homocysteine, an inflammatory compound that can damage your arteries and increase your risk of heart disease. Plus, the natural pigments -- called betacyanins -- that give beets their color have been proved to be potent cancer fighters in laboratory mice.

How to eat them: Fresh and raw, not from a jar. Heating beets actually decreases their antioxidant power. For a simple single-serving salad, wash and peel one beet, and then grate it on the widest blade of a box grater. Toss with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and the juice of half a lemon. (Note: You can eat the leaves and stems, which are also packed with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.)

Easy Recipe: Pork Chops with Tangy Honey Sauce

1 clove garlic

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1/2 cup honey

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1 pinch ground black pepper

6 pork chops

Place pork chops into a large resealable bag. In a blender or food processor, combine the garlic, vinegar, soy sauce, honey, ginger, and pepper. Puree until the garlic has been finely chopped. Pour this mixture over the pork chops. Seal, and marinate in refrigerator at least 4 hours. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Transfer the pork chops and marinade to a baking dish. Bake uncovered in the preheated oven until the sauce has reduced, and the pork is no longer pink in the center, about 25 minutes. – Allrecipes.com

Number to Know: 103

Number of hamburgers competitive eater Joey Chestnut ate in eight minutes to win a Krystal burger contest in Tennessee. Chestnut broke the record set by eating machine Takeru Kobayashi (who downed 97), The Associated Press reported. For those unfamiliar with Krystal burgers, they’re comparable to White Castles at 2.5 inches square.

Wise to the Word: Chimichurri

Chimichurri (chee mee CHOOR ee) is a condiment as common in Argentina as ketchup is in the United States. Reminiscent of Italian pesto, chimichurri is a mixture of olive oil, vinegar, finely chopped parsley, oregano, onion and garlic with salt, cayenne and black pepper. In Argentina it often is served on steak or other grilled meat. – Canton Repository

Spatula Up: As “instant” breakfasts go, this is one of the best. Faint praise? Perhaps. But I’m known for being anti-convenience food. The more someone messes with my food, the less I like it. But I remember morning madness with children -- trying to get everyone to eat breakfast, pack their backpacks and make it to the bus stop on time. These instant breakfast packets pass muster for those busy mornings because they include oats, wheat, barley, rye and a sprinkling of nuts, and because children can make them in the microwave. - Saimi Bergmann

Spatula Down: Quaker’s Simple Harvest Instant Multigrain Hot Cereal is something new and exciting in the hot cereal aisle. The earthy box appeals to the eye, especially the transparent window on the front that lets you see the grainy goodness inside. Of the three flavors, we tried Maple Brown Sugar with Pecans. Rich, authentic maple flavor wafted from the bowl, and each pecan-studded spoonful offered wholesome, hearty oatmeal deluxe. So why the spatula down? Price. The packet only makes a modest serving for 55 cents. With little effort, this breakfast could be created at home for a fraction of the cost. - Jennifer Mastroianni

Wine Tips

Ready to host a party with wine as an attraction? Check out these tips from Thelittlepenguin.com:

- Get enough wine. A good rule of thumb: There are about five servings in a bottle of wine. For a three-hour party with 10 wine-drinking guests, you would need about 40 servings of wine (four glasses for each person).

- Don't forget the non-drinkers and designated drivers. Get plenty of soda and sparkling water.

- Keep in mind that people will drink 25 to 50 percent less at afternoon parties than at evening shindigs.

- If wine spills, don't panic. Just blot immediately with a clean towel and treat with sparkling water. Don't use tap water; the chlorine causes spots.

Thieves Find New Use for Ketchup

Two men used ketchup to rob an Athens supermarket employee who was taking cash to a bank, Reuters reported. The thieves threw two big bags of ketchup on the windshield of the employee’s car to get him to stop, then fought with him over the money. They got away with only a small portion of the cash.

GateHouse News Service

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